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There are two basic rules when it comes to killing zombies: Act fast and aim for the head.

Unfortunately, in “Wildfire”, things became far more complicated for the group of survivors as everyone was forced to deal with the painful consequence of previous week’s zombie attack.

First, Andrea declined to leave Amy’s side. It was great seeing Amy resurrect as a zombie and struggle to bite Andrea. I was expecting Amy to take a bite at her sister but I was surprised when Andrea shot her sister in the head. I was glad that it was Andrea who finished off her sibling, but she didn’t have to be that close. Despite the need of closure with her sister, I think it was a really risky move on her part.

Carol had to deal with her husband’s death, and she went to town on his head with a pickaxe. Viewer discretion was definitely necessary here, as Carol repeatedly hit her husband’s head and parts splattered everywhere. I guess he was simply taking out her anger over the abuse that she had received from him or maybe she blames herself for his death.

Lastly, the group found out that Jim had been bitten. We got a chance to see how a small zombie bite can affect someone. Zombie nightmares and delusions don’t seem like fun. I just wish Jim had been around a little longer instead of playing a crazy gravedigger one moment, and sick zombie victim the next.

Rick and Shane on the other hand, were at odds over how to deal with their situation. Rick wanted to lead the group to the Center for Disease Control but Shane simply wanted to keep the group out of harm’s way. A little difference of opinion is sometimes a good thing, but not when it causes Shane to consider shooting Rick. Maybe he’s still hung up on Lori.

Overall, aside from the dramatic tensions that seeped into the character driven moments, the story progressed well. The group of survivors finally decided to head up to the CDC.

The CDC scientist’s introduction added some short background information on the zombie outbreak. The video journal logs looked great, but for some reason it reminded me of the film, I Am Legend. I guess it is hard not to make comparisons with other great zombie/apocalypse movies.

Like the previous episodes, the ending of Wildfire had me glued to my seat. The impending darkness, lack of food and shelter, and the threat of more zombies approaching added to the tension of the group. As Rick began to break down and the rest of the survivors panicked, I was expecting more zombies to come around the corner. Instead, the CDC’s door opens up and a haunting image of a flooding light encased the group as the minutes closed out. What a great cliffhanger!

Will there be assistance and answers inside? We’ll have to step into the light to find out on next week’s season finale.

It’s about time for Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead, to come forward with an episode from his own hand and one that features the least material from the original source. With this episode it is almost as if the series is saying “Yes, this might be The Walking Dead, but it’s not The Walking Dead you are used to.”

It seems that my fears about the series’ slow pace following episode three were baseless – Vatos picks up the pace perfectly, continuing on from Tell It To The Frogs, with our hero Rick (along with his small group of survivors) still in Atlanta trying to retrieve the bag of guns he left behind when he was being chased by zombies in the first episode, only with a minor complication… another group of survivors!

Vatos spends a fair amount of time on character development, but unlike the previous episode it isn’t at the expense of the pacing and the action – showing just how much of a handle Robert Kirkman has on the universe he created, striking a perfect balance between character, story and action in much the same way as the comic. And although Vatos does have a lot of similarities with the original comic in the aforesaid terms, where it does differ is in the introduction of the second group of survivors in Atlanta.It is an interesting idea, and one that may pay off in the future in this television iteration – but for now, in this episode, the new characters and the circumstance that leads from their introduction is definitely used to great effect, showing us just what type of leader Rick Grimes is, and will be.

As the group of heroes deal with the situation in Atlanta, there is another situation building back at base camp as insecurities, instabilities and tensions come to the fore and the survivors begin to crack mentally and emotionally – and as the series goes on I can see this coming to the fore even more, really giving an emotional human core in the television iteration of The Walking Dead.

Although the story in this episode does avert from the comic for the most part, it does not take long for it to come back to the source material for a horrifying and suitably gory denouement that leaves our group of survivors reeling. Suffice to say that in The Walking Dead no one is safe!

This episode of The Walking Dead follows immediately on from the end of the episode two as Rick and the group drive out of Atlanta and to the survivor’s camp. The first half of the episode slows things down – as Rick meets up with the other survivors, including his wife and son, and his best friend and former partner Shane, who just happens to have been having an affair with Rick’s wife Lori. The first meeting of Rick with his family is really a touching moment and is definitely the highlight of the series so far.

Tell It To The Frogs then spends its time showing what life is like at the survivors camp, introducing us to the major characters in the series, before taking a cue from the comic book and heading back to Atlanta as Rick and three other survivors try to rescue the repulsive Merle Dixon, who they accidentally left on a rooftop in the last episode, and grab the bag of weapons that Rick dropped in his pre-tank scuffle with the zombie horde in episode one.

Episode three also introduces Merle Dixon’s brother, who is the driving force behind their return to Atlanta and like his big brother he’s not the most pleasant of characters, although he is a damn sight more likeable thanks to the outstanding performance of Norman Reedus – even if he’s not really supposed to be…

By the third episode of The Walking Dead the TV version it seems that it is headed in a different direction and deliberately much slower paced than the comic book source. Tell It To The Frogs seems to be the low point in the series, the slow pace actually works against the narrative – with a lot of time spent contemplating and pontificating rather than doing which, compared to the first two episodes, is a bit disappointing, especially since the series only has a 6 episode order. If the series continues at this slow pace then I can see many of frustrated viewers, myself included!

In this episode of The Walking Dead, we see the introduction of the rag tag group of survivors whom Rick Grimes will eventually lead in their search of a safe place to live after the zombie apocalypse. We also see some deviation from the original graphic novel upon which the series is based – namely the introduction of the dislikable Merle Dixon, and the earlier-than-in-the-comics introduction of some of the survivors, including Andrea, Lori, Carl and Dale. Episode two “Guts” is also heavily influenced by George Romero’s classic Dawn of the Dead, with the group of survivors holed up in a department store.

Immediately taking off from the end of the episode one, Guts sees Rick being helped out of his tank situation by the series’ comedy relief Glenn. But it is a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire, as Rick must struggle with zombies on the attack from the outside and the bigoted, racist Merle Dixon on the attack from the inside! Of the newly-introduced cast it’s Steven Yuen as Glenn and Michael Rooker as Dixon who really stand out, each character at opposite ends of humanities spectrum – Dixon is the type of character who revels in it, seeking to use every situation for his advantage whilst Glenn is the friendly guy who uses humour to stave off the god-awful situation he’s in. Merle Dixon’s addition to the Walking Dead universe adds a very human villain the events. Unlike zombies, Dixon is very unpredictable. He can be considered a “monster” that adds an air of danger for the group of survivors.

This episode carries the heart of The Walking Dead on its sleeve with a title as straightforward as Guts, and it does not let viewers down, there are plenty of guts throughout this episode, especially in the scene in which Rick and Glenn had to disguise themselves as zombies to pass through the horde of zombies to get their hands on a van to rescue the rest of the survivors – its gross, funny and utterly, utterly superb!

Does episode two of The Walking Dead live up to the hype after the explosive first episode? Dumb question – of course it does! Guts is another great episode in what seems to be THE premiere horror series on television.